By Thom Davies
As seen in
Key takeaways:
Objective and Methodology:
Memorability and spelling are two key criteria that come hand in hand for brand names and domains, and have a significant impact on how consumers find you online. Despite their importance, both trademark concerns as well as domain scarcity place competing pressures on brands choosing a domain name, as longer domains or those with alternative spellings may be more available or affordable.
To explore the significance of memorability and spelling, we asked consumers about their experience finding brands online. We used this question to qualify respondents who have struggled to find brands online for a follow-up question asking what impacts memorability in a domain.
Question one: Have you ever failed to find or reach a business online because its domain name was hard to spell or remember?
Question two: What made the domain hard to find or remember? (Select all that apply)
A representative panel of American consumers aged 18 – 64.
Have you ever failed to find or reach a business online because its domain name was hard to spell or remember?
What made the domain hard to find or remember? (Select all that apply)
Have you ever failed to find or reach a business online because its domain name was hard to spell or remember?
What made the domain hard to find or remember? (Select all that apply)
Have you ever failed to find or reach a business online because its domain name was hard to spell or remember?
What made the domain hard to find or remember? (Select all that apply)
Have you ever failed to find or reach a business online because its domain name was hard to spell or remember?
What made the domain hard to find or remember? (Select all that apply)
Have you ever failed to find or reach a business online because its domain name was hard to spell or remember?
What made the domain hard to find or remember? (Select all that apply)
Have you ever failed to find or reach a business online because its domain name was hard to spell or remember?
What made the domain hard to find or remember? (Select all that apply)
Overall, our findings suggest that a clear, memorable domain is still a critical part of brand discoverability. Exact-match domains provide a significant advantage for brands, while prioritising short domains and intuitive spelling make brands most memorable and discoverable online. Crucially, alternative or unfamiliar extensions were not a strong factor for discoverability. This implies that strategic use of alternative extensions, particularly those familiar to your audience, can mitigate potential drawbacks by enabling brands to choose short, intuitive, and easy-to-spell names that consumers can readily recall.
If you’re interested in digging deeper into our findings, or asking your own questions on domain choice and branding topics, contact thom@atomradar.com to learn more.
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Thom is lead researcher at AtomRadar and content strategist for Atom.com.
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